K-12 funding is guaranteed in California’s budget. School boards say Newsom jeopardized it
CALMatters's CAROLYN JONES: "Gov. Gavin Newsom’s funding plan for California schools violates the state’s constitution and could endanger school funding in years to come, according to a lawsuit filed today in Sacramento.
The California School Boards Association, which filed the suit, has been outspoken in its opposition to the plan since Newsom introduced his revised budget in May. The state already passed its budget and the lawsuit won’t affect money that’s already been allotted to schools, but the association hopes a judge will strike down what they described as Newsom’s “funding maneuver.”"
LAT's ANDREA CASTILLO, ALEX WIGGLESWORTH: "Hundreds of people from 63 countries packed into a Riverside theater last week to take the oath of citizenship. American flags lined the stage as messages conveying the immigrants’ new power played on a large screen:
“Today, I am an American. Today, I am a citizen of the country I serve. Today, I can register to vote.""
Kamala Harris’ revolutionary push to treat child sex workers as victims, not criminals
LAT's MACKENZIE MAYS: "Twenty years ago, freshly elected as San Francisco’s district attorney, Kamala Harris urged California lawmakers to crack down on child sex trafficking and warned that her fellow prosecutors had gotten it all wrong.
Minors should not be arrested as “child prostitutes” and charged for their own abuse, she said, but deserved to be treated as victims who needed support."
‘No one interfered’: Sex abuse in L.A. County juvenile halls in spotlight at Senate hearing
LAT's ANDREA CASTILLO, REBECCA ELLIS: "Testifying Wednesday before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee, Breane Wingfield said she was 14 when, in 2005, she was sexually assaulted in a van by a deputy probation officer employed at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey.
It happened again at a holding cell at the Compton Courthouse, she said. And again, almost daily, she alleged, by a guard at Camp Joseph Scott, a juvenile probation facility in Santa Clarita."
New California law will speed cleanup of idle oil wells
CALMatters's ALEJANDRO LAZO: "California will accelerate cleanup of the state’s idle oil wells, shut down one low-producing oilfield and allow cities and counties to restrict oil drilling under three measures that Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law today.
Under one of the new laws, Assembly Bill 2716, an oilfield in unincorporated Los Angeles County will be shut down, with oil wells plugged by the end of 2030. Another new law, Assembly Bill 1866, requires oil companies to eliminate between 5% and 15% of their idle wells each year between 2025 and 2027, ramping up to between 10% and 20% in all subsequent years."
How will the state manage the slow death of California’s gasoline industry?
LAT's RUSS MITCHELL: "It’s becoming increasingly clear in Sacramento: The administration of Gov. Gavin Newsom is intent on pumping up state power to oversee the slow decline of California’s gasoline refinery industry.
It remains to be seen whether the state Legislature will go along."
Newsom signs bill banning single-use propane cylinders popular with campers
The Chronicle's MALIYA ELLIS: "Disposable propane canisters like the dark green ones used with camping stoves will soon be phased out in California, after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Sunday requiring all one-pound cylinders sold in the state to be reusable or refillable starting in 2028.
The portable fuel canisters, sold by brands like Coleman and Bernzomatic, are popular with campers but have long been a headache for park rangers as they sometimes end up littering campgrounds and dumpsters in state parks after hikers head home. Disposing of the cylinders properly can also be dangerous and expensive."
S.F.'s District 7 supervisor race heats up as candidates spar over crime, homelessness
The Chronicle's ALDO TOLEDO,CAROLYN STEIN: "Myrna Melgar considers herself a “bridge-builder” on the at-times divided San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
The District 7 Supervisor — who represents the city’s largest supervisorial district, spanning the Inner Sunset to Ingleside — argues she has brought political adversaries together, often striking compromises on housing, police reform and other divisive issues."
LAT's LIAM DILLON: "The city of Los Angeles is on the verge of redrafting blueprints for its neighborhoods to accommodate more than 250,000 new homes. But under a recommendation from the planning department, nearly three quarters of the city will remain off limits to further growth.
At stake is no less than a vision for Los Angeles’ future. Will L.A. continue to preserve communities dominated by single-family homes? Or will the city make a historic shift to allow for more affordable housing in areas that have long excluded it?"
Many plastics in Bay Area blue bins end up in landfills. Here’s what is actually recycled
The Chronicle's TARA DUGGAN: "This week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta sued ExxonMobil for perpetuating what he called a decades-long fantasy: that the world’s plastics problem would just disappear with better recycling.
Right now, even in California, little plastic is recycled."
Reassessing California’s approach to public safety and reentry (OP-ED)
Capitol Weekly's KAREN PANK: "Every day, crime reports shake communities across California, and recent high-profile incidents have heightened public concerns about safety and the policies guiding safety decisions in our state. It’s not just the high-profile cases causing alarm; it’s also the everyday incidents happening in our own neighborhoods.
Many are left wondering why there’s a surge in crime and what went wrong within our communities and public safety systems. The answer is both straightforward and complex. Probation officers, as on-the-ground experts in community safety and rehabilitation, have seen firsthand how the state’s top-down approach to public safety policies, often made without the input of local experts, is missing the mark."
State Farm projects massive decline in policies in California as it faces financial instability
The Chronicle's MEGAN FAN MUNCE: "State Farm projects that its total policies in California could drop by more than a million over the next five years as it deals with financial instability.
If current conditions persist for State Farm General — the part of the company that covers property insurance, including homeowners and business liability — its total policy count in California could decline from 3.1 million at the end of 2023 to just over 2 million by 2028, according to new filings submitted to the California Department of Insurance."
Living inside Rancho Palos Verdes landslide zone: Darkness, propane, batteries and determination
LAT's GRACE TOOHEY: "Patty Perkinson wakes up around 5 a.m. in the pitch black of her Rancho Palos Verdes home.
She grabs the large flashlight on her nightstand before she carefully makes her way out to the backyard — avoiding the sliding glass door that will no longer open, passing the cracked and empty pool — to turn on the generator."
Cal State campuses brace for ‘severe consequences’ as budget gap looms
CALMatters's MIKHAIL ZINSHTEYN: "California State University is anticipating state spending cuts next summer of nearly $400 million and a delay in promised state support of more than $250 million. The projected budget gap may prevent the system from enrolling new students, offering employee raises and spending more money to boost graduation rates.
Cal State’s Board of Trustees heard system senior finance staff detail the grim fiscal outlook Tuesday at a public meeting. They presented figures that show a 2025-26 budget hole of about $400 million to $800 million — a sizable chunk of Cal State’s estimated operating budget of $8.3 billion next year."
Rankings for these California universities are miles apart on two lists. Here's why
The Chronicle's NANETTE ASIMOV: "When the Wall Street Journal published its list of best public universities last month, California took six of the top 10 spots, with several unexpected schools ranking highly – including San Jose State University and UC Merced.
But this week, the more traditional and closely watched US News & World Report rankings came out with San Jose missing from its national list, and UC Merced down at No. 58."
Police are deliberately ramming suspects’ cars. Dozens have died — including bystanders
The Chronicle's JENNIFER GOLLAN, SUSIE NEILSON: "An SUV flipped over the median on an interstate in upstate New York, ejecting an 11-year-old girl from the back seat. The vehicle landed on her, crushing her.
A motorcycle hurtled off a country road in eastern Iowa, throwing its 31-year-old rider into a cornfield."